UCLA’s 28th annual JazzReggae Fest has announced its lineup, and we’ve got your tickets for the show May 25-26.

Tickets for the fest Memorial Day Weekend at UCLA’s Intramural Field are $35 per day. Children 8 years old and under are free. Pick up single day tickets at Amoeba Hollywood with only a $4 service fee while tickets last! (Limit four tickets per purchaser. Store credit and coupons cannot be used toward buying tickets. Call the store at 323-245-6400 or check this blog to find out if tickets are still available.)

Aloe Blacc live at Amoeba

The “Jam Day” May 25 features rapper Snoop Dogg, neo-soul acts Aloe Blacc and The Internet, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Sarah Reich’s Tap Music Project Featuring Lee How & Nico Rubio, led by performer / choreographer Reich and featuring footwork by a group of talented performers.

Miles Dewey Davis may have been many things, but he was certainly a forward-thinking artist with an eye out for what was happening at any given time in the musical landscape, and an urge to not repeat himself in his journey toward a newer, “hipper “style, like it or not. Some, myself included, would argue this point vigorously towards various stages of his career output, especially later. This week, the formidable Impex Record company releases one of Miles’ most contemporary and timeless albums of music and cultural relevance: 1965’s “ESP”.

So… Miles Davis in 1965? ‘Trane releases “A Love Supreme”, “Rubber Soul” comes out, Horowitz plays Carnagie Hall, Otis Redding , The Byrds and Bob Dylan release classic, timeless music, and new Miles Davis Quintet members Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock had just presented “Speak No Evil” and “Maiden Voyage” to the universe. Miles' previous band had already left, but he had the next great quintet already assembled, Wayne being the final glorious recruit. "E.S.P." would be their first studio recording together, and what a record it turns out to be, produced by Columbia Records' A&R man Irving Townsend, he of “Kind Of Blue”, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, etc. fame. The cover features a bewildered Miles and an adorable Frances Davis, with Miles sporting quite the flummoxed facial expression. "Man, does she have 'E.S.P.'?"

On Saturday, November 14th, Radio Sombra celebrated its second anniversary as an Internet radio station. Radio Sombra was started by Marco Amador as an important first step in creating more autonomous spaces throughout the Chicano community. Internet radio is nothing new to the world, but it’s an important first step in the advancement of communities such as Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles in looking beyond our traditional means of expression. From Radio Sombra came Espacio 1839, an art gallery/bookstore/record store/apparel shop that houses the station. Again, nothing new to most progressive communities, but Radio Sombra and Espacio 1839 has continued to flourish without corporate sponsorship, grants, and city funding or bank loans. This enables both entities to not compromise and continue defining itself.

Radio Sombra now has over twenty shows with the archives of past shows now running 24/7 in between the live shows. All radio shows pays dues for the upkeep of the station and equipment. Each show is required to run independently, with each host getting a course on how to engineer their shows and uploading them once completed on radiosombra.org. The shows vary from social/political talk shows to music shows specializing in every genre of music imaginable. There are youth programs that teach students from local high schools how to run their own shows as well as an ongoing achieve of interviews from important voices both locally and internationally.

Saturday’s broadcast was twelve straight hours of live programming. Starting at 11 am with This Is Not A Radio Show with Omar Ramirez & Gabriel Tenorio and Ending with Heartbreak Radio with Lady Imix & DJ Phatrick at 11 pm. Other shows that participated were AF3IRM Radio, an anti-imperialist transnational feminist national women’s organization. This was followed by O Lo Siento, a 90’s noise rock revival and platform for new groups personally recorded by studio engineer Eddie Rivas. Beatific Audio followed by DJ Cezar, a mixture of jazzy funk,hip-hop and social consciousness, Small Talk From Sapo is hosted by Moises Ruiz, aka Sapo, which on that day was a tribute to all the great jazz organists, all from vinyl. Steady Beat For Lovers by Mali is exactly what the name entails, a sweet blend of Rocksteady and Lover’s Rock.Nicotina hosted by Nico Avina, always plays political fueled rock and folk in Spanish and English. I did a set for Discos Inmigrantes, an all vinyl set of my favorite jams from past shows. Social Machine Broadcast with Becky & Dewey plays mostly powerful female-led rock in the first have and punk and metal in the second half. Heartbreak Radio closed it out with a set from DJ Phatrick followed by another tearjerker set by Lady Imix.